Some snowmobilers don’t stay on trails

Snowmobilers need to stay on marked trails, but some don’t. It happens every year, according to Department of Natural Resources snowmobile safety administrator Gary Eddy, as a few riders abuse the goodwill of property owners. “These snowmobile trails primarily go across private property,” Eddy said. “For whatever reason, they decide to go outside the markers.”

Eddy said the DNR encourage landowners to contact them if this becomes a problem – because law enforcement can issue tickets. ‘Sometimes that’s the only way to really solve an issue with people going off trails,” he said. “That constitutes trespass. It really gets the attention of the riders or groups of riders that are doing this.”

Property owners who get fed up with the situation can – and sometimes do – deny access to trails on their land, which forces snowmobile clubs to come up with alternate routes.